giving thanks for the memories

well, i will have to share eventually, so might as well get on with it. october has officially worn, stressed and saddened me out. more about all the events later. this entry is simply to bring attention to the the man i called papa, who left this world on thanksgving monday. both expectedly and suddenly. it is a funny thing, greif. it has blind sided me and krept suddenly into my everyday moments. i am most sad that he will never again wrap his arms around me or whisper in my ear. never again will we see his eyes light up when they look upon skylar and timber. at our yearly family gatherings, his sweet, silent presnce will not be sitting yonder, taking it all in. grief is selfish. i know he was ready, that he is better to have passed than to have carried on in sufering, yet there are waves that take me the place where all i can see is what we are left to miss. children allow you such oppertunity. looking at death trhough the eyes of my 4 year old full of questions is exhausting and comforting. it has allowed me to look deeply into the truth and the take refuge in the simplness of it all. skylar thought we ought to take our bed time story the the hospital to read it to old grampa and to say goodbye. that was the last time she saw him alive.

" mommy? can we go to heaven today? to visit old grampa?" the words of skylar the morning after he passed. if only it were that easy?!

gender not-so-neutral

We baught skylar a train set for her 3rd birthday, in hopes that jereme and her would spend quality time building tracks and zooming the cars. now a year later, that has happened maybe... a handful of times, and not on her own prompting. however, the train is getting loads of attention from timby. i have had these discussions with loads of my parent friends, how despite or best efforts to maintain a gender neutral play environment, boys will be boys and girls, well, girls. skylar loves to play fairie princess, and timber loves,LOVES, the train set. but i guess it is still a winning situation, since, as you can see, though Jeremiah loves cars trains and trucks to no avail, he is most excited to play princesses with skylar too!

september...say it with me, september

probably my favorite month. beautiful colours, warm sun but great sweater weather. lot's of celebrations and big milestones. i like the way the word september looks and sounds. our september looked like this...
*(technically august) a trip to calgary with gramma with a sunkissed stop in bowden at the sunflower corn maze.


*a quiet long weekend in cold lake. (needed after a frightening car accident.)


*then a relaxing day with the lovely lauren at the cabin. washing vieggies, playing in the yard, cooking yummy food and bathing skylar in the kitchen sink.



*september continues into a whirlwind week where skyli heads to pre-skool for a 3 day week which ends with her 4th birthday. we have a small-ish party at granaans & grampa's place.




*but itdoesn't end there. as of september 20th i have been married to this beautiful man 5 years. he took me to dinner and then to a B&B.

*and if that wasn't enough, timber learned to crawl (army style), we saw lot's of ethan and the twins, had papa stay at our house and spent lot's of time with the rozema-parkers before they go victoria.




all that and the month is not even done yet.

back on the blog.

ahhh, i have been trying to post for few days,but the site was not recognising my info.odd. buttodayit did, so here i am. and here is whatwe have been up to lately.
hanging out in the nice weather,


family camping trip with the davies clan,



a day @ the milners cabin paradise,





folk fest, folk fest, folk fest...




and a trip to cold lake.

though this has been our first summer "at home" in years, we only had this past weekend actually at home. we have been busy, and having fun. this week is schedauled for more fun adventures. i'll [try to] keep you posted.

playing with kiwis

here are some photos from about month ago of my kids and our new zealand friends/family.


how striking is that kiwi girl?


well, July sort of escaped me. more to come on what august has held.

the smell of rain

i so love the smell of rain. in many ways i wish that my four legged friend myka and could have our evening walk and be soaked with it. a few weeks ago when we were on a walk as a family, we were hit with a flash flood. all soaked to the bone. as jereme and i took turns running the kids home in the wagon, squeels of delight and laughter filled the air. skylar burst out "o-my goodness, this is FUN!" and it was. but tonight and the next 6, leave us solo parenting. jer is off coaching the u21 team for worlds ( visit www.2008worlds.com) so myka is missing her late night walk. How was calgary you may wonder? well we are impressed. we are seeing results already, though we will have to go for more treatments and there is alot of follow up steps that i am ultimatly responsible for, i am confident that if i am vigilant in prayer, and do the work, that the two will work together to = success.
these are my favorite 2 photos of our girl from the trip.
***
thanks for the prayers keep 'em coming.

prayers for the alternative

ahh... So we will venture to calgary to have a meeting with a wholistic practitioner who is confident that she can help our skylars eczema. Prayer for the whole situation is greatly appreciated. We are counting on a miracle and we know that can only truly come from God.